BROOKLYN, Mich. — Martin Truex Jr. used a late surge to pass pole winner Kyle Larson for the second time running and became the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver with double digit stage wins this season Sunday at Michigan Int’l Speedway.
Following a cycle of green flag pit stops inside of 20 laps to go in the second stage, Truex ran down Larson and drove around him exiting Turn 4 with five laps left before the stage break, putting an exclamation point on the duo’s back-and-forth battle so far.
Though Larson led 81 of the first 120 laps, Truex swept both mid-race stages and pushed his series-leading total to 10 stage wins on the year as a result.
Sunday marks the third time Truex has swept the first two stages of a Cup race this season, including his win at Las Vegas in March and runner-up finish at Dover Int’l Speedway two weeks ago.
Larson pitted with 12 to go in the stage after leading every green flag lap to that point, following the race’s resumption on lap 68 of 200.
However, the California young gun was struggling with a loss of handling at the end of Stage 2.
“I’m fairly loose,” Larson explained. “The Gibbs cars, I think, are definitely the class of the field. [Truex], for sure, is extremely fast. It’s almost like he decides when he wants to go fast and just cruises up to the front. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but right now I feel like we are a top-four or five car … we’ve just got to get some good pit stops to seal this thing.”
From there, he faded to third behind Kyle Busch, who charged forward late and took the green-checkered flag 1.38 seconds behind Truex in the end.
Matt Kenseth’s Toyota and Clint Bowyer’s Ford crossed the line fourth and fifth, respectively.
Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10 and all scored points at the stage break.
After starting at the rear of the field, a bad pit stop following the end of Stage 1 put Jimmie Johnson back in traffic, and he finished 21st at the conclusion of the second stage.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
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